Treating pimiento peppers



March 17, 1931. w. 'GRAEFE TREATING PIMIENTO PEPPERS SheetsSheet 1 5| vwentoz March 17, 1931. w GRAEFE 1,797,140

TREATING PIMIENTO PEPPERS Filed Nov. 19, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 17, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE WALTER LOUIS GRAEFE, F GRIFFIN, GEORGIA TREATING PIMIENTO PEPPERS My invention relates to means for removing the skins from vegetables and more particularly to means for removing the skins of pimiento peppers by roasting or singeing.

The present invention is an improvement over that described and claimed in U. S. Letters Patent 1,452,409, granted April 17, 1923, to Pomona Products Company, as the assignee of E. A. Bostrom; said corporation being also the 'assignee of the present case.

My invention has for its object to increase the capacity of the Bostrom furnace by using a double line of supports traveling continuously side by side through the same furnace.

A further object is to improve the conveyors, which 1 do by using parallel chains and mounting them to travel in vertical planes instead of horizontal planes. Thus two chain conveyors may be mounted to travel side by side along parallel lines, each conveyor carrying a continuous series of supports for the pimiento peppers. Along the upper side of each chain the supports are traveling in such a direction as to pass through the furnace, and at the end thereof they are carried down around a guide wheel back to the starting point in a vertically reversed position. At the starting point the chain passes over another vertical guide wheel, its supports turn around the center of said wheel and become upright as they start again towards the entrance of the furnace. It is at this point that the pimiento peppers are applied.

It will be noted that in the Bostrom patent the supports on the conveyors are cones; but I am not limited to this construction, havi in fact devised an im rovement thereon, for which I have applie for Letters Patent of 0 the United States, July 20, 1926, Serial No. 123,679. In said application I have claimed a process which consists in supporting the pepper upon its natural core without breaking the skin, until after the roastlng step when the skin and core are removed preferably at one operation. I have found that by operating in this manner a very considerable saving is eilected over the process of the Bostrom patent, by preventing the cracking and breaking of the edges of the shellsby the gas flame in their passage through the furnace. In the present case, I may use either method.

It should benoted that while in the Bostrom patent only gas flames are described as the heating means, I may use and have used in practice oil burners which give the same results, where gas is not available. Such oil burners will be illustrated and referred to herein, with the understanding that either oil or gas may be the heating agency, producing in either case the efi'ect described in the Bostrom patent.

, My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one unit of a roasting machine embodying the invention, showing the furnace and one carrier, with adjusting means for the latter.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation looking from the left hand end of Fig. 1 with part of the furnace in cross-section as indicated by the dotted lines 22 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the furnace, foreshortened, showing the burner in full lines.

Fig. is a vertical transverse section of the burner and valve.

Referring to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 is a frame, composed of steel members such as angles, having inside parallel memhers 2 which divide the frame into two sections, one for the transmission of power and the other for the furmace and operating'mechanism. Mounted upon members 1 and 2 are bridges 3 carrying an adjustable slide carriage 4 upon which are secured bearings 5 for a horizontal transverse shaft 7 having mounted upon it two parallel vertical sprocket wheels 8, upon which ride the respective carrier chains 10 and 11. At the other end of the frame similar bridges 6 are secured longitudinally of the frame, and upon these bridges 6 are mounted bearings 24 for the shaft 25 which carries two parallel vertical sprocket wheels 26, the same in all respect-s as the sprocket wheels 8. Around these sprockets also run the carrier chains 10 and 11. Attached to and propelled by each of these chains, as for example the chain 10 in Fig. 1, is a series of vertical supports for the objects to be operated upon indicated at 12. Each of these supports comprises a spindle 12a and aflat base 12?) which in traveling along the upper member of the carrier rides upon a pair of parallel hear ing surfaces 13 and 14, and on the return, traveling along the lower member of the carrier, -each fiat base 12?) travels in inverted position upon parallel ways 15 which are supported upon horizontal transverse bridges 17. The spindles 12a projecting perpendicularly from the upper surface of the chain carrier, and traveling along the ways 13 and 14, pass through the furnace 18, the bottom of which is slotted at 19 for that purpose. The interior of the furnace consists essentially of two arched passages 22 communicating with each other and connected together at 23 so as to form virtually one double passage.

The description thus far has been limited to the carrier 10 on the left hand side in Fig. 2 and shown in elevation in Fig. 1. The other'carrier 11, with its supports or spindles and the ways on which the same travel, are precisely the same as the carrier 10 and its connected parts. Power is supplied for running the two carrier chains from a power shaft 34 (see Fig. 2), which through belt 28 drives the belt wheel 29 (Fig. 1) which is geared through pinion 30 to the .wheel 31 having pinion 32 geared to wheel 33 which is the driving wheel for the shaft 25 of the two sprocket wheels 26.

I have illustrated a number of details in the machine which are susceptible to change without departure from the invention, and which include the enclosure or return box 35 at the bottom of the machine, in which the spindles 12a travel on their return to the loading point P in Fig. 1. At this point the peppers are placed upon the spindles 12a and arecarried in procession through the furnace to be roasted, as described in the Bostrom patent hereinbefore referred to. After passing through the furnace the peppers are removed from the spindles in any suitable or desired manner, and if necessary are cored and cleaned, as described in my aforesaidprior application, Serial No. 123,-

579. Mounted on one end 17 of the frame 1 are bearing blocks carrying the horizontal screw shafts 36 which engage with the carriages 4, and by means of which the carriages are caused to travel on their bearing bridges 3, moving the shaft 7 so as to produce suitable tension of the two chain carriers. Each of the shafts 36 has a hand wheel 37 for adjusting the. sprockets.

The method of construction and heating of the furnace 18 are of the essence of this invention. The furnace itself consists of a body of heat resisting material such as fire brick or the like, with two parallel connected passageways running to it from end to end as already described. Beneath each passageway is a horizontal longitudinal slot 19 or 20, and between these slots at one end of the furnace is the heating means, shown as an oil burner B, while at or near the other end of the furnace is a chimney 38 with a registering opening 39 in the furnace roof to create a draft and assist in drawing the products of combustion completely through the furnace. The burner B will be described in detail in connection with Fig. 4, but it should first be noted that it comprises a body with an injector nozzle fed with fuel oil on the one side and with air or steam under pressure on the other. The fuel supply pipe 40 passes up through the bottom of the furnace, which is relatively cool, while the air or steam pipe 41 passes down through the top thereof, where it is subject to more or less heat.

Referring to Fig. 4 it will he observed that the body 42 of the burner B, has an inner passageway 43 constituting an oil chamber which communicates through a regulable opening 44 and through tortuous passages 45 with the nozzle 46. The valve opening 44 is governed by a cone or needle valve 47 manipulated through a hand wheel 48 and stem 49. Leaka e around the stem is prevented by a stu ng box 50 and the stem is threaded into a sleeve 51 which in turn is threaded into the body 42. The hand wheel 48 is turned outward with respect to the furnace passageway 21 or 22 so that it remains cool at all times. Steam or air is admitted through the pipe 41 which communicates with annular passageways 52-53-54 surrounding the oil passages, and finally communicating through the adjustable opening 55 with the nozzle 46. The opening 55 and all the passageways 5253-54 being annular, and the feed pipe 41 carrying pressure, the air or steam issuing from the nozzle 46 will form a conical extending figure as indicated in Fig. 3 atomizing the oil and producing a vaporous mixture which is highly combustible and which fills the entire double passageway through the furnace with flame and highly heated products of combustion. The draft through the opening 39 and the chimney 38 at the other end of the furnace furnishes means to accelerate the travel of these heated products and to distribute the same so as to produce an approximately uni form temperature throughout the length of the furnace.

I have not deemed it necessary to describe in detail the material or the construction of the furnaceitself, but the latter may be observed in general from the cross-section of Fig. 2. A pair of side sheets 56 and 57 extend between the fire brick and the side frame members 58-59-60-61 and the side and bottom bricks, on which are supported the top double arched brick, are carried on brackets 62 and 63 while the central row of bottom bricks 64 is supported from beneath on structural irons 65.

' It should be observed that at each end of the traveling conveyor, the guide belts 13 and 14 are carried around in a semicircle concentric with and in planes parallel to the sprocket wheels 8 and 26, so that the bases 12b of the spindle or spindles 12a will ride around the peripheries of the sprocket wheels smoothly and without any perceptible loss of support in passing from the upper traveling ways 13 and 14 to the lower ways 15 and 16.

It is to be understood that minor changes in detail may be made without departing from the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A roasting machine comprising a pair of endless parallel carriers travelling back and forth eachin the same vertical plane, each carrying a series of perpendicular supports to receive fruits having cores, such as pimiento peppers, guide wheels at opposite ends of each carrier, and a furnace extending above and parallel'to each carrier, composed of fire resisting material, with two parallel arched passages through it communicating between the arches, the bottom of each passage being slotted to permit the ends of said supports with their superposed fruit to pass through the furnace, and means to heat said furnace to a high temperature, said means including a burner set in the entrance to the furnace, between the parallel rows of supports and the fruit carried thereon.

2. The roasting machine described in claim 1, in which the burner is set at one end of the furnace and is adapted to inject its flames and the heated products of combustion produced thereby into the passageways and a vertical opening at the opposite end of said passageways including a chimney for the gases of combustion, acting to create a draft through said passageways for the same.

3. The roasting machine described in claim 1, havin a metal frame, fixed bearings and adjustable hearings in said frame, a guide wheel journalled in each of said bearings, each of the carriers stretched over a pair of guide wheels and kept under working conditions by the adjustment of one of said wheels, the vertical supports being set upon each carrier at intervals throughout its length, the upper element of each carrier traveling in one direction with the ends of its supports extending into the furnace through one of the slots, and the other element traveling in a reverse direction underneath the furnace and entirely outside thereof.

4. The roasting machine described in claim 1, in which the burner comprises the body, a nebulizer and a pair of vertical supply pipes, the upper pipe coming down through the top of the furnace and connected to said body to supply thereto steam or air under pressure, and the lower pipe extending upwardly through the floor of the furnace and connected to the body to supply hydrocarbon fuel thereto, the body being rovided with two chambers, one extending rom the steam or air pipe to the outer end of the nozzle, and the other, a hydrocarbon chamber, extending from the lower feed pipe to the inner passage of the nozzle, together with a valve in thebody adapted in its movement to regulably open and close the fuel passage to the nozzle, said valve having its nozzle pointed into the furnace and having its stem extending to a point outside the furnace and there provided with operating means; whereby the blast from the nozzle will create a heated draft of flame andfpr'oducts of combustion into and through the furnace, while the valve stem, the controlling means therefor and the hydrocarbon chamber of the nozzle will all be kept cool by the incoming draft of air from outside the furnace.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

WALTER, LOUIS GRAEFE. 

